SPOFFORTH INTERVIEWED.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2373, 14 August 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPOFFORTH INTERVIEWED.

representative of the " Pall Mall i !; «Ptte" lately interviewed Spoffortb, ; ' the' demon bowler, from which interview we select the following : ,v What is the first-duty of a bowler, Mr Spoffortb f ;*•''" To lead astray the batsman," Implied he, with a cynical smile—"'to ;%d'him.astray by novor allowing him "TO guess wliafc is coming.' So far aa I tm concerned I may send a very quick ball (I have never yet put all my _eiiwligth into it), the next may be .'fior'reipondingly slow, Therein, I con•li'der, lies.any, power I may have as a bowler—this ability to vary the-pace from tho very quick ■ to the very slow. Then I try to deceive .him by break ind by, - variety of pitch, If you know your batsman from- your meetings,' a' good bowler (■knows his weak points. lam speakHng ot the best known men' in' the •World, of cricket. When lam bowling Against a batsmen whose peculiarities '¥• lira not acquainted with, I generally -gauge him by his stylo, and have bis f" kin three or four overs. I dare a, batsman would tell you the same g-about a bowler, We try to lead jfiach other astray, but the batsman is '. generally the first to betray himself. s H*ving penetrated the armor, then I go.for him, tickliug him and tempting ihifl, He fancies he has got rny gauge f.ons style of break. Then 1 try other, and suddenly revert to the it"; or one puts, by the manner of 'holding the ball, a spin on that will cnu.se it to turn out of its course, The batsman may think by tbe action of the delivery that-the ball will turn out of its course when it possibly finds its w»y to tha wicket. But it is a difficult matter to explain. As I find aSbatsm&n is inclined to hit, .'to ■ play

back or. to play forward, so I tempt him, sometimes'-trying to 'beat the Imf—that is, going straight for liis' wicket, at others alluring him to hit so as to place tho ball in the hands of one of-the field When do I consider myself unlucky 1 Well, when-1' beat ' tho bat'—that is pass'the bat-and miss the wicket by an eighth-of-an-inch.

Then I feel angry, -But-every bowler knows''these things. Personally I seldom go straight for- bowling a man. I think Grace by fur the best bat in the world. Some first-rate cricketers, after they have got twenty, or thirty' runs will begin to slog, Grace never does this, He always moan's business. I Heisup to every move, In fact he is very difficult to lead astray.. I think Crossland is a/faster bowler than myself, • In my old days in Australia, long before I became known, a captain of a team would ask, me to. moderate my pace; hut I,used to use my own judgement, and did as I thought best, It whs very disagreeablo to be taught how to bowl, But that is a thing of the past." "You must practice ranch.tokeop your eye and band in, and your body in training f " I never practice. I seldom play in Australia—half a-dozon times a year, perhaps—and, as I watch myself closely, I always find when I cofcue over bore that I am seldom much good until after the fourth match. By that time [ have got my muscles in trim and my oye in good order—(Mr Spoffortb now looks like a typical athlete, eyn clear and face ruddy mid tanned)

-the match the other day against Oxford was an oxcoption. Then lam up to my. best average to the end of tho seaßon, Of course one has good days and bad days 'for which there is no accounting.'' To return to the matter of practicing at cricket, To a certain extent it is good of course and material, But Lhavo always found

that I require the stimulus,M mentol a match tb.'.pu.t. me'on; roy ; mettle,: If Ipractic6";at'a;notintho usual' Way one is apt to Beconje careless, One bowls, perhaps, to a man'who does not like to get hurt, and naturally, though he would thinl; ,\npthing. of.it in a big match. So I hold—please remember that ibis is only 'my own opinion' that practice, unless very thorough, very much in earnest, is not.good, as it tends to become careless iihd slovenly, and teaches bad habits, wbich are'with difficulty eradicated, You ask me about training, I take it that one of the beauties of cricket is

ihat it requires none of the severe ielf-denial, the selection of particular liet in its practice, Personally I

don't always have a pipe or cigar in my mouth, but I smoke, nor am I a . total abstainer. No, I never make any difference in my habits, and the constant training of the cricket-grouud is sufficient, at any rate, for men who are playing every day. -Of course one , wants .wind and ■pbWjjr of lasting, but a man never runs more than sixty or eighty yards at a time, and he has . long spells in between. Those are my views, Do I; fever feel nervous 1 I cannot^ tHsit [ I' ever do. Excited 1j? yes, "on occasions."' ~ " Do you over try to flighten a batsman f _ £ , "If a batsman is timid, be is fright- . ened long before I get at him. That's , tliQ worst of a powerful.imagination. I certainly never go for a hataman with . right down intent to frighten him. If J be don't like my speed, that's his look out, not mine," ~.'! Bowl i with tho brains. Brains. * I assure you, enter more largely into sport than is generally imagined. But to return to your question. 1 can only s tell you my own experience. I may J say that I learned to bowl as one leains to read. In the days of my tuition I ' was.a great copyist, I was, .always | changing'from one style to another. I '• saw a particular kind of delivery or a ' a variety of pitch in another bowler. ' I watched him" carefully and then I ' did my best to imitate him. So it was ! with pace. In the early days of Aus- j tralian cricket, and before; the-visits of- j English cricketers, no bowler' had discovered how to break a ball. This was an art I found out for myself, Then it was only by dint of constaut perseverance that I overcome prejudice. The critics.and. the press used to ran i Me down. 'They likened me to a bull . running at a gate.' But I didn't caro a jot. Iweighodthe criticism in my i mind and went on trying this, that, and tha other. Somehow I generally I got wickets, and that satisfied me. If | lcame off that was onongh. I knew • I couldn't be far out. They said I r threw, and they were right. I did . throw once, but when I found that out j after the difference had been explained' » td me (of course that is a long time s ago), I went to work and corrected it. y All lit is not dasy to make a name. I s tried and tried again for years, If I--9 bowled well they'sa'id it was luck ,If I 9 took wickets it was luck; rcy break j was luck again or the wickets," s '" A great bowler is born and not' |. made;-eh, MrSppfforth r Great fowling I is a heavenly-born gift f ; ' g "Not a bit of it," replied the demon, e smiling," As I have said, you must y use your brains if you have got any. e You ,88k? for my own experience, In )f my'youthful days : l had • cricketing U aspirations, and cricketing in the ie colonies was at a low ebb. In those 3 f days, ,when I, was very keen and rt very a'mbitious, 1 thought I should ts like to. become a bowler, and a I really studied it as a probid lem. I' used to think for myself iy how■ siicMand such, a pitch or such and

such a speed would affect a batsman, I used to propound mentally the most difficult combinations, to overcome a batsman. Having thought of a certain style, as a billiard player might of a certain stroke, I' went down to the ground to give it practical effect. An English professional player who was engaged by us, and who was in those somewhat remote days by far, the best bowler in Australia, used tq go to tho wickets, and.l usod-to try my new idea. He would then criticise. And thus I was constantly trying, first as a mental problem, then as a practical result, By this means I used to gauge myself for years." ' " Dangers of cricket 1 Very few, 1 should think. Of course a man gets hurt sometimes, Ihavehad luy right hand broken' twice. That was at Scarborough in 1880. It was badly set, and had to be broken again. But tboso are mere trifles after all—the chances of wdi'," continued Mr Spoffortb, smiling, And, shaking his left haud, I departed.